


Six Conversations to Catch a Knight

by pikkugen



Category: Elenium/Tamuli Series - David & Leigh Eddings
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 10:18:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8840761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pikkugen/pseuds/pikkugen
Summary: Princess Danae tries to catch Talen, who doesn't want to be caught. Help is needed.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [perryvic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perryvic/gifts).



> Beta by Bauglamir, thank you!

Sparhawk was poring over some paperwork in his office and royally bored of it, when the door slammed open and Talen slouched in and dropped unceremoniously onto a padded chair. The young man was hardly two weeks a knight and still didn't seem to know what the position imposed on him. Sparhawk lifted an eyebrow, looking at the young man with half-attempted sternness.

"Sir Talen. What brings you to my office?”

”Your damned daughter! She doesn't leave me alone for a mere hour, let alone a day,” grumbled the young man sinking deep into the chair's comfortable embrace. He wiped his brow quite theatrically. ”Last week she followed me everywhere. Everywhere, Sparhawk! To the practice field, to the stables, to the latrines... I can't stand this anymore. I'll go crazy and do something desperate. I'll run away to Platime's crew and lose myself in the streets.” 

”And my wife gives a command and he promptly delivers you back,” added Sparhawk without inflection. ”If I were you, I'd try to hitch a ship to Rendor. Much harder to drag anyone out of there.”

”Look how well that went for you,” muttered Talen glumly.

”Indeed,” smiled Sparhawk. ”I managed to avoid Ehlana for, what, ten years? I'll give you six months with Danae. She has, how should I put this, divine connections.” 

Talen made a face. ”Sometimes those two are far closer than I care to think about,” he grumbled. ”It's like they're connected or something.” Sparhawk was eternally grateful of his politics-groomed perfect poker face at this moment and just jotted down another line to a document. 

"Anyway, is there something you could make me do? Like, a state visit to Tamuli Empire or something? It's really disturbing to see her everywhere," and now Talen looked suspiciously around the room in search of a white-clad figure, who fortunately wasn't there. 

"Not without consulting my wife. She's the Queen, you know." Sparhawk dropped a full stop to the document, blowed to dry the ink and pushed the paper aside. "And as for Princess Danae, you know she's had her dark pretty eyes on you for years now. I think it's a little bit late to try and run away from her now. Unless you've met someone else you fancy?" And he gave the young knight a stern stare that made him squirm in his chair. 

"It's not that. I just feel so... trapped! Like I have no say at my life." 

"Well, you should have thought about that before you agreed to be trained as a Pandion," said Sparhawk. "A knight has pledged his life to Church and State, in that order, and if our revered Archprelate decides to require your services in any part of the world, you're supposed to obey without questions." 

Talen slumped his shoulders and muttered, "That's just another way my life is fu..." 

"YOUNG MAN! DO NOT SPEAK TO ME IN THAT MANNER!" Sparhawk's voice hadn't lost its edge a bit in the years of being the Preceptor, although his days in the training field were far behind. Talen jumped and straightened his shoulders with such an air of terrified attention that Sparhawk almost smiled. 

"At ease", he said, watched the young man relax, and continued, "Just remember, being married to a Princess isn't that bad. Honest." He offered Talen a smile, and watched the younger man sigh and drag himself off the chair and out of the room. 

**  
Queen Ehlana was sitting in front of her dresser. She was brushing her pale golden tresses and humming softly to herself as she was planning another speech in the Council of Elenia. There was an important decision to be made and she wanted to be sure everyone understood what was in line. Also she loved giving politically colored speeches. 

Her slender daughter came in with soft unshod feet and stood a moment by the door just watching her mother. The Princess of Elenia was dressed in a comfortable gown of simple linen, pure white as was her favorite color. It was suspiciously Styric in fashion, but as yet no-one had ever commented on it. Only Ehlana insisted that on official occasions she would wear Elenian blue, and she had consented as long as she could unofficially wear whatever she wished. 

Ehlana saw her in the mirror and smiled warmly at her daughter. "Hello, Danae", she said. "What brings you here, my child?" 

"Mother..." Danae's sweet voice was hesitant. "Can you tell me about you and Father? I mean, when you were young?" 

Ehlana rose from her chair, inviting her daughter to sit there before her, and started to brush her black tresses. "Hmmm... what about us, darling? You do know he was young at a different time than I was?" 

Danae squirmed a bit but relaxed as the brush moved in gentle, sure strokes through her hair. "Mostly... how did you manage to catch him? It seems like you two had so little time together before... everything." Danae bit her tongue. Due to her extraordinary origin, she had to walk a fine line when it came to her mother. It wouldn't do to know too much of the intimate details of her parents' history long before she existed. 

"Ah. You know he was appointed as my Protector when I was a child, and he practically raised me, because no-one else would," started Ehlana, lost in her memories and the soft strokes of the brush. "When my useless father ordered him into exile in Rendor, I held to the memory, And when... he came back to me, I just had to make sure he wouldn't leave me any more. You're more lucky than me, you're not in any danger and your loving parents will help you with anything you need," and she kissed the girl's hair. 

"That doesn't really help me, he keeps running away every time I try to approach," complained Danae. 

"Who does, darling?" 

"Talen! I've decided a long time ago he would make an excellent Prince Consort, but I don't seem to get him to realize it! What's a girl supposed to do?"

Ehlana laughed softly and hugged her daughter. "Sweetheart, you have at least six months until you're old enough to propose to him. You're in no hurry. Although I suspect he knows and does just what every young man (or an older one, for that matter) does when he realizes he has been trapped, which is try to bolt and push back the inevitable for just a bit more. But you're sure about this?" 

"Yes!"

"Well then, darling, let me give you some solid advice, as your mother and a woman. Let him go for a while. Let him think for a moment and come to the decision himself. I know he will, I've seen how he looks at you when he thinks no-one notices. And I know it seems like a counter-effective advice, but if you let him see you could get anyone... He will come back. I might talk to your father and see if he can devise an errand for him just to get him away for a moment, and maybe we can have a party in the meanwhile? Invite all the young princes and noblemen in? How is that friend of yours getting on with her romance? We could help her get a chance with her sweetheart and maybe devise some alliances between the young nobles of ours and other kingdoms, too..."

"Mother, how is that going to help me get to Talen?" said Danae petulantly before her mother could get into a rampage of political alliances via marriages. 

"Simple! We let it be known there will be a party, say, a month hence, and your father will send Talen away for just that time. He will be happy to escape – for a moment. When he is at his boring errand, he will think of you having a ball and dancing with all his competitors and having fun all without him, and he will do everything in his power to get back as soon as he can to see that you won't choose anyone else over him." 

"And it will work?" Danae was incredulous. 

"I've seen it work so many times," said Ehlana, smiling to herself. "Talen is a good boy, he'll come to his senses."

**

Late in the night Ehlana was reading in bed and waiting for Sparhawk to join her. Sparhawk was getting old, although he would never admit it, and getting to bed was increasingly slower for him. When he finally settled under the covers groaning and creaking and leaned over to kiss his wife, Ehlana smiled and kissed him back and put her book away. 

”Sparhawk. I have something I need you to do for me,” she began, and her husband sighed deeply but lowered his head on his pillow and asked: ”Very well, what is it? Some young noble been troublesome again?” 

”That's one way of putting it,” she agreed, and proceeded to describe her daughter's plight with her chosen and reluctant suitor. 

”Funny, he came to me today complaining about just the same thing – well, the reverse, of course. What have you decided to do with it?” Sparhawk had learned a long time ago to let Ehlana keep her head in the matters she had took interest in. There was no changing her opinion, and on most occasions she had a solid and workable plan. 

”I'm going to have a party about a month from now, a great party in celebration of, well, I'll figure something out. For Danae, of course. We'll invite every available young noble there and I can use the occasion to make a few alliances I need to happen. There's always some noble families in need of new allies, isn't there?” 

”Talen won't like it,” warned Sparhawk.

”Oh, but here my plan becomes ingenious,” his wife gloated. ”I need you to invent an errand for Talen, preferably something that will take him a good journey away and lasting at least two weeks, and this about a week before the party. So that at first he'll be overjoyed for the chance to skip it, but something so dull and boring he can't help but think of the party and Danae all the time. He'll be happy to return home and be more interested in Danae and her courting than before, and she'll get her chance. She's my daughter, I'm sure she will be able to use the situation to her benefit.” 

Sparhawk looked at his wife. Ehlana's face was still as beautiful and radiant as the first time he had seen her in her grown-up glory, but years of reigning Elenia had brought maturity and gravitas that hadn't been obvious at first. If possible, she was even more beautiful today than twenty years ago. 

”As you wish, my Queen,” he complied and kissed his wife. ”As always, your plan is ingenious.” 

”Of course it is.” She smiled at her husband. ”Now, what are you going to do to thank me for helping our daughter and to congratulate me on my plan?”

**  
The preparations of the party were in full buzz, and Talen grew more and more frustrated each day. He didn't look forward to being the forced (and unwilling) dance partner to Princess Danae, and undoubtedly their names would be linked together in ways he was extremely uneasy with. 

So when the Queen demanded his presence one day, he was immediately suspicious. Would he be commanded to escort the Princess to the party? He knew how to dance, his education had made sure of that, and his knowledge of etiquette was at an appropriate level, and since he and all his brothers had been knighted by the Queen there shouldn't be a question about his suitability for the rôle, but his childhood and youth as a lowly thief and a bastard had definitely left an insecurity in his character. Besides he had a profound dislike of being the focus of public attention, as all thieves were wont to have. 

Unfortunately his mothers' care and kitchen had managed to make him grow into an admirable figure, not perhaps as impressive as his older brothers, but tall and muscular and quite well-groomed these days. He really stood out from a crowd if he tried to. His sweet mother Elys's countenance had won over his late father's one, so he was undoubtedly the most good-looking one of his brothers, and they tended to tease him about it (and got scolded by their mother, for the good measure). All this made it extremely easy for him to become the focus of public attention, which he didn't like at all, so the prospect of being Princess Danae's dance partner was very uncomfortable for him.

So he knocked on the door of Queen Ehlana's private office very restless, shuffling his feet and pulling a deep breath as she called, ”Come in!” in a busy-sounding voice. 

”My Queen called for me?” he said as courteously as he could, bowing deeply to hide his anxious face. 

”Oh, Sir Talen, there you are at last. We have an errand for you. Unfortunately it will take you away from the upcoming party, but we believe you will live with the disappointment?” Ehlana's voice was almost overly sweet but icy, as if she knew exactly what Talen's thoughts about the party were. Talen bowed nervously, as there were several council members and scribes and other personnel in the room and Ehlana was using the royal We, which most often signified that she wasn't pleased with something. 

”Good. It has come into our knowledge that an immensely rare and ancient chalice has been found in a cave in the west coast near Cardos. It is rumored to be in the possession of one Count Turvin, who is unwilling to sell it, at least to Platime and his men. We have decided that the chalice will be a part of the gift we are giving to the Archprelate of Chyrellos, our dear friend, so we therefore make it your task to find and procure the said object to our possession. We expect you to leave at your earliest convenience, as the Archprelate's birthday will be in a month. Also, you are supposed to return in time for the occasion, so do not tarry. All reasonable expenses will be from the royal purse, naturally, so Talen dear, would you mind terribly if you missed Danae's party? You're the only one I can trust right now to handle the purchase.” Ehlana's royal smile softened at the end as she saw Talen's face light up hopefully. 

”Yes, my Queen, I shall take this endeavor!” said Talen enthusiastically, saluting and bowing and almost skipping out right away. 

”Excellent. You shall have the details by tomorrow, please do not leave before that,” said Ehlana a bit tersely, and sent the young knight away with a wave. ”Melidere, please set aside a cheque for royal funds for this journey. Milord Stragen, send a word to Platime, we need that cup he found. Celdan, let Count Turvin know he's to expect our young adventurer in about a week. He is to delay the negotiations for a couple of days, depending how quickly Talen appears. Also I want a full disclosure of the exchange, just in case he has something up his sleeve. The messenger should return as soon as he can. Now, to the other business...”

 

**

It was a rare sunny morning in Cimmura, and Talen was riding happily westwards on his horse. The brisk wind played with his cape and hair, he had a full bag of food and a royal purse (with slightly less money than he had hoped for, but probably it was for the best; he should just haggle the prize of the chalice lower than he had thought) and, most importantly, the party was a week ahead and it would take at least five days to ride to Cardos. He was safe. 

The roads were largely free of traffic at this time of day and year, and he made good time during the day. In the evening he came to a little village, checked the inn and decided to sleep outside, since it didn't seem like it was going to rain. His first day out had rather felt like a jaunt. 

In the morning he woke early, ate some bread and cheese from his bag and continued his journey. The countryside was pretty boring, with little villages and farmhouses here and there, and a distinct odor of sheep. In the evening the wind brought clouds from the far away sea, so he found a barn to sleep in, and woke in the morning to the soft sound of rain. Suddenly the errand seemed far less fun than it had seemed two days ago. 

By the end of the fourth day the rain had stopped, but all of his clothes were cold and clammy. He was huddling in his saddle miserable and cold, crossing yet another little copse of trees, when he heard a surprising melody. 

A little, white-clad child sat on a tree branch playing a set of pipes, waving her grass-stained feet to the rhythm, and seeing Talen, waved her hand and dropped unceremoniously from the tree into his arms. Before he could avoid it, he was smothered in little kisses. 

”Flute! What are you doing here? ...Is it you, really?” 

The child huffed, played yet another string of music from her pipes and answered: ”Of course it's me, Talen. Well, one of my incarnations, anyways. You can still call me Flute if you want.” 

Talen hugged the little girl affectionately and said, ”It's so good to see you again! What are you doing in these parts?” 

”Keeping you out of trouble, naturally,” the child answered loftily. ”What are you up to today, Talen?” 

”I'm off to Cardos to buy Ehlana a cup she's heard of,” answered Talen. ”She wants to gift it to the Archprelate for his birthday. It got me away from this party, so I took the opportunity.” 

”A party? I've never heard you shy away from a party, Talen,” scolded Flute smiling. 

”If you were chased by a Princess like some rabbit, you'd avoid the party, too,” Talen growled with a scowl. 

”Oh, ugh, don't do that, you look exactly like Khalad, and he's not the fairest face to look at,” complained Flute pursing her tiny pink mouth. ”Fine. I'll come and help you to make it to the party, I can tamper with distance and make you get back home in a day. I can even steal your stupid cup, if it makes things easier.We can't disappoint Danae, now can we?”

”I don't think Ehlana would like a stolen cup,” Talen began, but Flute just laughed and settled in front of the young knight in his saddle. 

”You've learned some bad habits, Talen. You wear much too much iron around you for comfort,” she complained and wiggled against Talen's chainmail. 

”At least I'm not in full plate,” he said. ”I could be, you know. I'm a knight nowadays.” 

Flute didn't look even a little bit impressed. ”So you clank as you walk. Can you even pick pockets any more?” 

”I think my hands have grown a bit too big for that,” admitted the young man. 

”Psssh. Not worth the trouble.” Flute shrugged. ”I've decided not to grow up at all. You should try that, too. Although it might be too late for that,” she added looking at him.

”It's not my fault my mothers fed me too well,” said Talen defensively. 

As the horse turned around a bend in the road, the smells and sounds of the sea wafted suddenly over them. Talen jumped in the saddle and stared at the little girl accusingly. ”You've been tampering with distance again, haven't you?” 

”I thought that was the idea? Don't worry, you'll miss the party if you want to,” said the child irritatingly and yawned. ”I'm going to take a nap. You'll get to the Count's estate in the evening in any case, and tomorrow you can haggle about the chalice to your heart's content. And you don't need to stay away for two weeks. I know Danae misses you.” 

Talen groaned. 

Count Turvin's estate was some miles outside Cardos itself, near the coast, and it was getting dark as Talen drew near the front gates. A servant came out yawning to take his horse and to guide him inside. 

"Count Turvin is already retired, but young sir is welcome to stay for the night. Oh, on royal business? I'll see you a room. Would you join him for the breakfast?"  
*

Talen was riding back from the estate with conflicting emotions. The negotiations about the chalice had been... interesting. At first Count Turvin hadn't even wanted to see him, claiming he didn't know what Talen was here about. Then suddenly he had changed his mind, talked enthusiastically about the chalice and speleology and local history, and even shown the cup to Talen. He had been oddly reluctant to speak of a prize and, hearing what the Queen intended to do with it, he had declared he wished to gift it to the Queen and the Archprelate. After that he had invited the young knight to explore the coastline, but seemed almost relieved as Talen declined discreetly and suggested he had a timeline to deliver the chalice to the Queen. And here he was, riding home with a dusty old cup in his saddlebag, not sure if his trip had been a success or not. 

At the little copse he heard the pipes again, and almost without looking caught the little Styric girl as she dropped down from a branch. 

”Did you get your mug, Talen?” asked Flute smugly. Talen sighed, told shortly of his escapade and shrugged his shoulders under the chainmail. ”It seemed all too... easy,” he complained. ”Like someone didn't want me to attend Danae's party and kept me away just for enough time for me to miss it.” 

”I thought you didn't want to attend it?” said Flute, lifting her minute hand to touch Talen's cheek. Talen huffed. 

”I wouldn't have minded,” he said. ”Not really. I was just annoyed she didn't give me any space. Always following me, you know? I need some time alone every now and then, but I don't really mind her presence. I... like her.” 

”Like her?” Flute's voice was tense, like she was holding something back. ”That's all?” 

Talen looked at the little girl on his lap. The huge eyes were staring at him almost blamingly, pink bow-shaped lips quivering. Again he noted how alike this incarnation of Aphrael and the stubborn Princess were, although the Princess was, of course, seemingly much older. Flute never seemed to age, although she was much older than she looked like.

Talen hugged the little girl. ”None of your business, Divine One... but yes, I think I love her. I might even propose to her... if she doesn't badger me off before that.” 

Flute squealed happily and hugged him tightly, showering him with kisses all over his face. ”I'm so glad! You two are practically made for each other. I'll be sure to tell Danae to leave you alone every now and then, and then you can marry as soon as she is of age. You'll be so happy, I just know it!” And poor Talen was kissed some more very enthusiastically. 

 

**

Sparhawk was standing by a high window looking down to the courtyard. Talen was kneeling very pompously before Queen Ehlana in the yard, she was giving a speech of undying gratitude and neverending praise for fulfilling the errand for the birthday chalice, and everything was at the same time ridiculously theatrical and warmly genuine. Sparhawk felt a smile spreading to his face as he witnessed the end of the ceremony, where the Queen gestured the young knight to rise and pulled his head down in order to reach a kiss on his cheek.

He felt a little hand grasp his own.

”Hello, Danae,” he said without looking. ”You got your knight errant home.”

”Hello, Father,” answered Danae. ”I think everything is fine now.” 

”You're not sorry he missed your party?” 

”Not really. Mother got to have her alliance-making, I made some nice new friends, and me and Talen have an agreement. – He met an old friend on the way.” 

”Flute?” Sparhawk made a wild guess. 

”How did you know?” 

”You were uncommonly sleepy before and after the party.” 

Danae shrugged. ”I still can't concentrate well in many places at the same time. It's just easier to sleep.” 

”And your... agreement?” 

”We're going to get married as soon as I'm of age. He even promised to propose to me. Do you think mother will tell me all about your wedding night before ours?”

Sparhawk blushed. ”Watch your mouth, my child,” he threatened. Then he relented. ”I only have one advice: Close the curtains.”


End file.
